AIR SHOT GUNS - Low power , How many , Legal , Any use ?

[Jimny4x4]

Was reading through some old issues of Airgunner and Airgun World and it seemed back in the late 80's and 90's that AirShotguns were all the rage .
One called the Pegasus , was a Tac / Bac so now fallen by the wayside .

But traditional Airguns that are smoothbore and use 'shot' ammo instead of pellets ?
Oddly the Pegasus makers also seem to have done a air shot shell conversion on a HW break barrel model using little shells loaded up with wad and lead shot and power provided by the spring ..

Falcon Pcp had similarly some mods done to a batch of actions by L.J Cammell in Merseyside . Ugly looking thing but interesting called the Ulti-Shot

Most recently , like 10 years ago , I remember the Crosman 22xx Air Shotgun 'kit' , you could remove your barrel and stick the smoothbore tube in its place ..quite a neat conversion and power was okay for blattin tins . Think it loaded 3 bb's and were held by a magnet that came as part of the Kit .

So Airshotshell airguns - why is nobody making them anymore , in UK sub 12 ft/lb spec - not seen any for ages - are they still legal ?
Low power was always the issue with them so popularity rather than any legal issues surely ?

I can see the fun interest - at Clubs outdoors you could have a mini clay range

[Turnup]

Never heard of that idea before - interesting. How is the shot held in place prior to firing?

[steve B]

I remember them. As the total me had to be less than the legal limit more of a novelty than anything else. Accuracy was lousy too iirc.

[Rich]

When I was a "young person" and didn't know any better, I experimented with my BSA Meteor to see if it could be used as a mini shotgun. I cut up lead pellets into fragments and held them all together with asbestos.

In those days, in the 1950s and 60s we had no idea that asbestos was bad for you, and Rawlplug used to market a kind of asbestos fibre that you could buy in a tin, like a 2oz tobacco tin. It was useful stuff for fixing screws into a wall, if the hole was too ragged for a conventional Rawlpug, and they were fibre at the time, not plastic.

You would mix a pinch of the fibre together with a few drops of water, it would consolidate into a mush that you would press into the hole, and then allow it time to dry before inserting the screw.

My best mate's dad was a keen DIY man although we didn't call it DIY as such; Ernie had loads of fascinating tools and kit like blowlamps and the apparatus to make wiped lead joints, a skill to behold in wonderment.

Sorry I digress. This fibre stuff was ideal as a carrier medium for my shot, and Ern was kind enough to let me have some from his tin.

It didn't have much strength of course, and acted just like wadding, falling away from the shot fragments.

Did it work? Well, the Meteor was good for about 9 ft.lb if you were lucky. I think I managed to get my shot to make tiny holes in a sheet of paper at about 4 or 5 yards range, so this was hardly going to qualify as a weapon of mass destruction.

Edit: maybe it got closer than Blair did.

[Logunner]

When I was a "young person" and didn't know any better, I experimented with my BSA Meteor to see if it could be used as a mini shotgun. I cut up lead pellets into fragments and held them all together with asbestos.

In those days, in the 1950s and 60s we had no idea that asbestos was bad for you, and Rawlplug used to market a kind of asbestos fibre that you could buy in a tin, like a 2oz tobacco tin. It was useful stuff for fixing screws into a wall, if the hole was too ragged for a conventional Rawlpug, and they were fibre at the time, not plastic.

You would mix a pinch of the fibre together with a few drops of water, it would consolidate into a mush that you would press into the hole, and then allow it time to dry before inserting the screw.

My best mate's dad was a keen DIY man although we didn't call it DIY as such; Ernie had loads of fascinating tools and kit like blowlamps and the apparatus to make wiped lead joints, a skill to behold in wonderment.

Sorry I digress. This fibre stuff was ideal as a carrier medium for my shot, and Ern was kind enough to let me have some from his tin.

It didn't have much strength of course, and acted just like wadding, falling away from the shot fragments.

Did it work? Well, the Meteor was good for about 9 ft.lb if you were lucky. I think I managed to get my shot to make tiny holes in a sheet of paper at about 4 or 5 yards range, so this was hardly going to qualify as a weapon of mass destruction.

Edit: maybe it got closer than Blair did.

Remember the fibre stuff... my grandad had some. Used to lick my fingers and dab them into the fibre to make paste balls for my elastic band gun


Air shotguns are about as good an idea as Asbestos hole filler imo

[oling]

I recall this being released fairly recently onto the US market: http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2015/...g-shot-review/

[Geezer]

They are a novelty with no practical use at sub-12. Gamo make or recently made some sort of springer air shotgun contraption - not sure if they were ever sold here.

I think there was briefly a sub-12 PCP air shotgun made in tiny numbers in the UK about 20-25 years ago.

In the 90s, the Crosman 2100 (a standard .177" multi-pump) was marketed here as the Triple Strike, the idea being that you pumped it up to full power, then loaded three BBs at once (held in place by the magnet on the end of the bolt probe) and then blasted a can with it. Which was fun, until you got tired of the pumping.

My youthful experiments with 12 ft/lbs springers involved (a) loading two light wadcutters at once, (b) chopping the tails off cheap pellets and firing four to five of the heads in one load. Also fun - at least when you are fifteen.

[secretagentmole]

I remember being able to buy that Rawplug filler in the 1970s!

[naffer]

[QUOTE=Logunner;7183727]Remember the fibre stuff... my grandad had some. Used to lick my fingers and dab them into the fibre to make paste balls for my elastic band gun
:eek
Moved.

[naffer]

[QUOTE=Rich;7183716]When I was a "young person" and didn't know any better, I experimented with my BSA Meteor to see if it could be used as a mini shotgun. I cut up lead pellets into fragments and held them all together with asbestos.

In those days, in the 1950s and 60s we had no idea that asbestos was bad for you, and Rawlplug used to market a kind of asbestos fibre that you could buy in a tin, like a 2oz tobacco tin. It was useful stuff for fixing screws into a wall, if the hole was too ragged for a conventional Rawlpug, and they were fibre at the time, not plastic.

You would mix a pinch of the fibre together with a few drops of water, it would consolidate into a mush that you would press into the hole, and then allow it time to dry before inserting the screw.

My best mate's dad was a keen DIY man although we didn't call it DIY as such; Ernie had loads of fascinating tools and kit like blowlamps and the apparatus to make wiped lead joints, a skill to behold in wonderment.

Sorry I digress. This fibre stuff was ideal as a carrier medium for my shot, and Ern was kind enough to let me have some from his tin.

It didn't have much strength of course, and acted just like wadding, falling away from the shot fragments.

Did it work? Well, the Meteor was good for about 9 ft.lb if you were lucky. I think I managed to get my shot to make tiny holes in a sheet of paper at about 4 or 5 yards range, so this was hardly going to qualify as a weapon of mass destruction.

Edit: maybe it got closer than Blair did.[/QUOTE
Wiped joint ,who now could wipe a lead joint ,I could then not now.